News: OIG plans to publish adverse events studies

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has been conducting a series of studies about adverse events (patient harm) in various healthcare settings since 2008 and will be publishing more of its corresponding reports throughout 2019, the OIG said in a statement.

Currently, the OIG is working on releasing a study that will replicate the methodology used in the prior work for a sample of Medicare beneficiaries admitted to acute-care hospitals in 2018, JustCoding reported. The OIG will measure the incidence of adverse events and temporary harm events, the extent to which harm was preventable given better care, and the associated costs to Medicare.

These upcoming reports will compare the 2018 results with prior study results to assess progress in reducing harm at the 10-year mark and identify differences in harm rates, types, contributing factors, preventability, and costs, the OIG says.

The series also includes a congressionally mandated study released in 2010 which found 27% percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events or temporary harm events while hospitalized in 2008, according to JustCoding.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in JustCoding. To read about the inpatient billing and coding study the OIG is conducting, click here.